Minor maid ousted at midnight

LAHORE:

An employer kicked out a 13-year-old girl, working as a maid at a house, at midnight in the metropolis.

The victim who identified herself as Atiya does not know the whereabouts of her parents or her birthplace. She shared that at midnight her employers got annoyed over something and ousted her from their house.

“They pushed me out with a bag of clothes,” she said. The victim kept on crying and roaming on the streets of the locality where she had come at a very tender age.

“I noticed Atiya crying on Meelad Street sitting under a streetlight,” said a resident of the area, Arif Bhatti.

He took her to his house before handing her over to the police. “She was unable to tell anything about her about and kept on weeping. I served her food and consoled her so that she could relax,” he added.

Atiya said she does not remember when did she saw or speak to her parents last time.

“I had been working at my employers’ house for the past six years,” Atiya said.

Read Maid’s ‘suicide’ becomes a mystery

She would get up early in the morning and clean the house. Afterwards, she would take care of three children of her “Baji”, her way of addressing her employer.

The victim was blank about the whereabouts she had stayed day and night for work.

“I never stepped outside that house alone. I was not allowed to do so,” she said. My employers used to torture me over minor issues,” she described.

“They used to give me only one meal a day. I was handed over old clothes to wear,” she said. The Child Welfare and Protection Bureau (CP&WB) has taken custody of the victim. CP&WB chairperson Sarah Ahmad said that they were searching for the victim’s parents.

“Until CP&WB finds her parents, we will take care of her and provide her with facilities including psychological counselling,” she said. The cases of domestic help torture are rampant in the city.

In March this year, a minor was recovered from the house of a government officer in Wahdat Colony. A neighbour had noticed reported the issue to the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2021.